Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-07-29

| Iigious discourse and "seVenteenthly''
would find them fresh and chipper.
In those days there was enough
time for a man to take an hour to
! warm himself up to the subject and an
hour to cool of. But what was anecessity
| then is a supe11uity now. CONGREGATIONS
are full OF knowledge from books, from
newspapers, from rapid and continuous
Accommodation, and long DISGUST
J tions Of what they know already, Will not
/ be abided. If a religious teacher cannot
| compress what he wishes to say to the
| people in the space Of forty-tve minutes,
! better adjourn IL 20 some other day.
! The trouble is we preach audiences into
! Christian frame, ard then We preach
| them out of If. We forget that every
| auditor has so much capacity OF attention
| and when that is exhausted he is restless.
! That accident on the Long Island Rail
! road some years ago came from the fact
! that the brakes were out of order. and
when they wanted to stop the train they
could not stop, and hence the casualty
was terrific. In all religious discourse we
want locomotive power and propulsion.
We want at the same time stout brakes
to let down a. the right instant 1t is q
! dismal thing after q hearer has COmpre-
nen ded the whole subject to hear q man
say: NOW to reCapitulate," and "a few
words by way of application" and "OnCe
more" and FINALLY" and "now TO con-
clude.n
Paul preached until midnight, and
Eutychus got sound asleep and fell out
, OF window and broke his neck. Some
would say "GOod for him" | Iwould
RATHER BE SYMPATHETIC
like Paul and resuscitate him. That &C
cldent is often quoted now in religious
circles as warning against sOmno.e
IN church. II is just as muCn g warning
to ministers against pToliXIty. Eutychus
was wrong IN his somnolenCe, but Paul
made mistake when he kept on until
midnight. lie ought to have stopped a.
O'Clock, aud there would have been no
accident. II Paul might have gone on to
too great length, let all those Of US who
are now preaching the Gospel remember
thst there is 3 limit to religious discourse
or ought TO be, and that in our time we
hsve no apostolic power Of miracles.
Napoleon in an address of seven min
utcS thrilled his army, and thrilled Eu-
rope. ChriStS sermon on the Mount, the
model sermon, was less than eighteen
minutes long ct ordinary mode Of deliv.
cry. 1t IS not electricity scattered Gil
over the sky that strikes, but electricity
gathered into a thunderbolt and hurled,
ana 1t IS not religious truth scattered
over, spread out over q vast reach Of
time, but religious truth projected in
compact form that flashes light upon the
soul and rives its Indifference
When the religious discourse OF the fu-
ture arrives in this land and in the Chris
tian church, the discourse which is 10
arouse the WOTli and stsrtle the nations,
Pnd usher in the kingdom, it viii be q
brief discourse. Hear it all theological
students, ali ye Just entering upon reli-
gIOus work, all ye men and women who
in Sabbath schools and other depart
ments are toiling for Christ and the sal
walton OF immOrtals
BREyITY, BREvITY!
But / remark also that the religious dis
course Of the future OF which | speak will
be popular discourse. There are those
in these times who speak OF 3 popular
sermon as though there must be some
thing wrong about it. As these critics
are dull themselves the world gets the
impression that 3 sermon is good IN pro-
portion as it IS stupid. Christ was the
most popular preacher the world ever
saw, and considering the small number of
the worlds population, had the largest
audiences ever gathered. He never
preached anywhere without making s
great sensation. People rushed out in
the wilderness to hear him, reckless Of
their physical necessities. - great was
their anxiety TO hear Christ that, taking
no food with them, they would have faint
ed and starved had not Christ performed
3 miracle and fed them
Why did so many people t1ke the truth
at Christ's hands? Because they all I'M
derstOOd it. He illustrated his subject
by hen and her chickens, By bIsheI
by g HANDFUL Of salt, by 9 /
birds fight and by g lily's aroma. All |
the people knew what He meant aud they |
locked TO Him. And when the religious I
discourse Of the future sppesrs. it will I.
not be PrincetOniUn, not Roches- /.
teri2n, not AndOverian, not Mid
1letonian, but OIivetiC-plsin, prac
teal, unique, earnest, comprehensive ]
OF all the woes wants, sins, sorrows and /
necessities of an auditory
But when that eXlOrtstIOG or discourse .
does come there will be q thousand .
cleaning scimetggs to charge on il. There |
ere ~ 50 many theological semnsTies |
professors telling young men how TO .
preach, themselves not knowing how, anil (
am told that if g young man in some Of .
our theological semiuaTies says anything
quaint or thrilling or unique, faculty and .
students lily st him and set him right, sni .
'traigh.en him out and smooth him down
md
CHOP HIM OFF
Until he says everything lust Is every
BODY else SAYS It.
On, when the future religious discourse
# the Christian church arrives, all the
'lurclcs Of Christ in our great cities
viii be thrOnged. The world wants
.piritual help. All who have buried their
lead want comfort All know themselves
% be mortal and TO be immortal, and they
want to hear about the great future.
ell you, my friends, if the people Of our
yreat cities who have had trouble
)nly thought they could get
PRACTICAL and sympathetic help in
lie Christian church, there would notiIbe
street in New York, or Brooklyn, or
chicago, or Charleston, or Philadelphia,
II Boston which would be passablF on
ne Sabbath day if there were s cSqrch
N it: for all the people would pres. to
hat asylum Of mercy, that great house of
Omfort snd consolation. e
a mother with 9 dead babe in her Fms
sme to the god Veds, and asked to:lave
er child restored to life, the GOD feda ,
aid to her: "IOu go and get q handful ,
f mustard seed from a house in which :
here has been no sorrow, and in which :
mere has been no death and will rn